The main entities related to Alzheimer's and the field of the elderly have demanded this Monday, in the Congress of Deputies, a Political commitment to make Alzheimer's a strategic priority in the scientific, health and care fields, which promotes the research as the only way to overcome the disease.
They did so at the event “The challenges of Alzheimer's and dementia”, promoted by the Pasqual Maragall Foundation together with the Spanish Society of Neurology (SEN), the Spanish Alzheimer's Confederation (CEAFA), the Matia Foundation and HelpAge, within the framework of World Alzheimer's Day, which is celebrated next September 21st. The President of Congress, Meritxell Batet, was in charge of opening the event, which also included testimonies from a recently diagnosed person, two family caregivers and a participant in research studies.
As he expressed in his welcome speech Cristina Maragall, president of the Pasqual Maragall Foundation: “Alzheimer's is a silent and structural epidemic that will only find definitive answers through science and research. Experts and entities have joined together here today to demand the political attention that this reality deserves. Because it is in our hands to prevent Alzheimer's from endangering our health and care system.”.
Currently, More than 900,000 people in Spain suffer from dementia, 75% of cases due to Alzheimer's. This is one in 10 people over 65 years old, and a third of those over 85. With life expectancy increasing, and if a treatment is not found to modify its course, The number of cases could double by 2050.
More resources for research and early diagnosis
Dr Dr. Raquel Sanchez Valle, head of the Neurology Service at the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona and Secretary of the Behavior and Dementia Study Group of the Spanish Society of Neurology (SEN), has demanded an adequate budget allocation for the National Alzheimer's Plan:
“In serious diseases such as neurodegenerative diseases, early diagnosis is key to improving the quality of life of those affected and reducing costs. We have had the tools tested and approved for years, but only a minority of centres in Spain and, therefore, a minority of patients, have access to them. We need the National Alzheimer's Plan to guarantee this access to the entire population.”, he claimed.
The health and social costs of neurodegenerative diseases are also extraordinarily high. A conservative estimate puts them at 21 billion euros per year, €24,000 per affected person per year, whose 87% are directly assumed by their familiesTo these economic costs we must add the personal, social, psychological and work-related costs suffered by family caregivers, whose situation also does not receive the consideration it deserves.
Social challenges and citizens' rights
Ainhoa Etayo, member of the Associative Care Area of CEAFA, commented: “Early and accurate diagnosis is the most urgent challenge, as it is the basis for being able to deploy all the social and health actions and resources that guarantee compliance with the rights and guarantees of all people affected by dementia, and this includes family caregivers.”.
For Mayte Sancho, member of the Board of Trustees of the Matia Foundation, “It is urgent that society in general supports people with Alzheimer's disease, normalizing their participation and presence in any area of social and community life. We cannot allow them to lose a single right of citizenship, nor allow stereotypes about the disease to justify exclusionary behaviors.”.
Along the same lines, Isabel Martínez Lozano , president of HelpAge and of the State Roundtable for the Rights of Older People, has claimed: “all people have the right to be cared for with adequate resources, to maintain spaces of freedom, their identity and their social and emotional relationships. But they also have the right to decide, with the necessary support. Therefore, a legal modification is urgently needed that does not deny them their capacity to act, nor that modifies their right to make legal decisions without adequate guarantees.”
A major social concern
Before the event, the Pasqual Maragall Foundation presented the President of Congress, Meritxell Batet, with a manifesto that has 500,000 signatures of citizen support to demand political action against Alzheimer's and a commitment to research.
This action reflects, once again, the great social impact of Alzheimer's, as also reflected in the Study “Attitudes and perceptions of the Spanish population regarding Alzheimer’s”, in which citizens rank the disease as the second health condition that worries them most, just after cancer. In addition, 2 out of 3 Spaniards say they know a person with Alzheimer's.
